“Looking forward to it.” Then Simon flashed a smile at Bella. “Until we meet again, Lady Avery.”
She wasn’t Lady Avery yet, but none of Simon’s crew knew that and neither did they know they were abetting the pair in their scandalous elopement.
“Lord Thurlstone,” Bella said, relief brimming from her for the first time in hours. “Thank you so much for everything.”
“My pleasure.” Simon nodded. Then he turned his attention back to Greg. “Safe journeys, my friend, and do enjoy your time aboard the Magnanime.”
As Simon turned around to head back up the steps, rainwater began to spill in through the hole, so Greg urged Bella down the dry passageway that dead-ended at a large wooden door.
She glanced over her shoulder at him as though making certain it was all right to enter.
Greg shrugged. “I supposed it’s ours for this journey.”
If she was nervous about sharing ship’s quarters with him, Greg couldn’t tell it. But after the last day of having his suit rejected and being knocked unconscious by her enormous cousin, he wasn’t about to let a little thing like them not being husband and wife yet keep her separated from him. Not after he’d nearly lost her. Propriety be damned. They were eloping anyway.
Bella turned the handle and stepped into the nicely apportioned cabin. There was a large window along the back wall and two smaller portholes on each opposite side of the cabin, all of which let in a bit of the overcast grey light into the space.
Greg knew the moment Bella spotted his surprise because she spun around and threw her arms around his neck.
“Oh, Greg!”
And he held her against him, reveling in the feel of her in his arms and never wanting to let her go. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t bored at sea.” He kissed the very top of her wet head.
For the first time that day, she laughed as she tipped her slender neck upward to see him better; and the sound of her happiness reverberated through his soul. “I am never bored with you. In fact, you make everything in my life better.”
Something he would aspire to the rest of their years together. “You don’t mind sharing the cabin with me, do you?”
If she did, Greg thought he’d never survive it all the way to Edinburgh.
“Of course not, and everyone onboard believes we’re husband and wife.” Her silvery eyes stared directly into his as she shook her head. “Besides, I don’t want to ever be apart from you. Not one day ever.”
On that, they were in perfect agreement. Greg dipped his head down and brushed his lips against hers. Dear God, frissons of need washed over him. Greg’s cock stiffened and he pulled her closer to him, wanting to feel every part of her pressed against him as he deepened their kiss.
Bella’s arms settled around his neck and the softest little groans escaped her, driving Greg half out of his mind. His cock twitched in anticipation.
Without breaking their kiss, he guided her backward, further into the cabin and then kicked the door closed behind them. Bella’s eyes opened at the sound, and she swallowed a bit nervously.
She was the most beautiful sight in the world, with half of her hair dangling down from their mad dash in the rain. She looked almost as though she’d already been bedded and that thought made Greg groan himself.
With a sigh, Greg rested his forehead and against hers. “I do want you, Bella,” he admitted. “But if you want me to wait for Edinburgh before I claim you…” he’d somehow manage. He wasn’t sure how, but he would.
Bella pushed up on her toes and pressed her lips against his, and every other single thought fled Greg’s mind. Dear God, she was an angel, the most perfect angel in his arms. And he wanted to bask in the heaven of her right now and for a lifetime.
Out of the corner of his eye, Greg noticed a large wooden bed that seemed to be creviced between two walls in the captain’s quarters, not too far away. Still kissing her, he guided Bella in that direction as he worked the fastenings on the back of her dress. Just as they reached the side of the bed, Greg lifted his head and gazed down at her once more. In just a few days she’d be his wife. They should stop, they should wait. He should finally do things the right way after a lifetime of having done them the wrong way.
But then Bella tugged at his cravat and slid one of his jacket buttons through its hole, all while gazing up at him with those twinkling silver eyes of hers and driving him wild.
Somehow, Greg found the strength to reach for her hands to still them. “Are you sure, my dear? We’ll be married soon. I don’t—” he shook his head “—that is I thought I’d changed.” From a reckless youth to a very sensible baron. Though how many sensible barons hopped ships to elope in Scotland?
“You should never change. You’re the most wonderful man in the world just as you are,” she gushed.
Oh, Greg was far from that.
His expression must have said as much because she tugged her hands from his grasp. “I am ruined, Greg,” she said softly. “I’ve fled my home in the dead of night, of which I spent the entirety with you and two notorious rakes, even if they did come to our aid. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that my entire person would now be wholly unacceptable if anyone in society knew the truth about me.”
“Aylesford claimed you,” he said. “That’s all that should matter.”
“That isn’t true.” She shook her head and her dark hair brushed against her shoulders. “And especially not if His Grace decides to spread the tale far and wide. There’ll be whispers in every corner of every parlor in Mayfair.”